Evangelism and Making Disciples — Zac Poonen

The Whole Purpose of God and Spiritual Maturity

In our last study, we were seeing how the Apostle Paul preserved the church in Ephesus. And one of the things I want you to notice here, in Acts chapter 20, is that he told those elders, after spending three years with them, verse 27, Acts 20, 27, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

If you think of the whole purpose of God like a big circle that contains everything that is in God's purpose for man, generally speaking, what we hear preached in a lot of Christian churches and in Christendom today is only part of that circle.

We can ask ourselves, why don't they preach the whole thing? Because somebody will get offended, or somebody may leave if they hear that. And so we have gradually the whole purpose of God, this whole circle being reduced, it becomes a semicircle, and sometimes quarter of a circle, we say the bare minimum.

Let me just get a person saved, his sins forgiven, and let's unite with all those who believe one-fourth of this circle, and let's work together. Now, God has not made a mistake in declaring what his whole purpose is.

And it's when we proclaim the whole purpose of God that we get a total Christian. And if you proclaim only one-fourth of it, what you are going to produce is quarter Christians, people who are not really fully what the Lord wants them to be.

But they have an outward appearance of talking about Jesus and come to the meetings, but they are not what God wants them to be. And when you try to build them together, to try and build a fellowship, the body of Christ, we find it's impossible.

There will only be a congregation of people who will like to sit and listen to good messages, but not grow up into spiritual maturity themselves. There are lots of people sitting in many, many Christian churches across the world today who have been apparently Christians for twenty, thirty years, but they have never become mature, because the whole purpose of God was not preached to them, only the bare minimum.

It's something like a person being admitted in a hospital and the doctor just treating that person for the bare minimum that he can get out of bed and go away, instead of treating him completely, that he can go out as a vibrant, healthy person.

The Evangelism Commission in Mark 16

When Jesus gave a commission to his disciples before he went up to heaven, there were two commissions that he gave, and we can look at both of them. The first one is Mark 16, and verse 15 to 18. We can say this is a commission to evangelism, that is, to go into all the world, Mark 16, 15.

And here you are only told to preach the gospel to every creature. It means to every human being across the world, preach the gospel. Your responsibility is over when you have preached the gospel. If you read carefully, what did Jesus say?

Go to every part of the world, preach the gospel, tell them the good news, and after that it's up to them. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.

That's not your responsibility. You have fulfilled your responsibility when you preach the gospel. It's up to them whether they believe and are baptized, or they disbelieve and they are condemned. And then, to support this gospel preaching, Jesus said in verse 17 and 18, there will be some supernatural signs that will accompany not every believer, but all believers put together.

Demons will be cast out, they will speak with new tongues, they will not be hurt by serpents, and they will not be hurt by poison, and they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. So this is one commission, and we see it being fulfilled today, particularly where people go out into unreached areas, even in India.

These supernatural signs still accompany the preaching of the gospel. I have seen these healing crusades that are conducted mostly by western preachers in different cities, and in most of these crusades, what you call miracles are not miracles.

A lot of people are fooled. The real miracles are taking place not in these big crusades. They are taking place where people go to unreached areas and are preaching the gospel to those who have never heard.

Unknown people whose names you and I don't know. They are going out into villages in India where people have never heard the gospel, and they are laying hands on the sick, and they are being healed in the name of Jesus.

Demons are being cast out in the name of Jesus, and people are being converted. So, this is being fulfilled even after twenty centuries, after Jesus said. But it is basically a proclamation of the gospel, and some believe, and some don't believe.

The Discipleship Commission in Matthew 28

But those who believe need to be baptized. Now, the other commission is in Matthew 28. In Matthew 28 we read of another commission, and I want you to notice a slight difference here. Here Jesus said, All authority, verse 18, has been given to me in heaven and earth.

And this time he didn't say, go and just preach. There in Mark 16, your responsibility is over when you have preached. And whether they believe or don't believe is up to them. But here, your responsibility does not cease until you have made disciples.

He didn't say, go and preach discipleship. And whether they become disciples or not, that's up to them. He didn't say it like that. That's in Mark 16. Go and preach the gospel. Those who believe, those who don't believe.

But here he said, go into every nation and make disciples. A disciple is basically a learner and a follower of Jesus. Jesus said, learn from me. Matthew 11, 29. He also said, follow me, many times. Take up your cross, Luke 9, 23, and follow me.

If anyone wants to follow me, let's take up the cross daily. That is a disciple. In other words, you must make a man or a woman, one who wants to learn from Jesus. Not just learn from you. You may initially help him, but he must ultimately become a disciple of Jesus, not a disciple of you.

One who is able to stand on his own feet. In the beginning, naturally, like little babies, mothers have to feed them, care for them. And in the beginning, it's natural that they look up to you a little bit.

But your whole aim, just like a mother's aim is to get the child to stand on its own feet, to feed itself. In the same way, our aim is to get a person to learn directly from Jesus and to follow him. Then he has become a disciple.

If he is perpetually dependent on you, even after 5 or 10 years, he has not become a disciple. He is just a listener to you. Make disciples. And again, baptism is emphasized. In both commissions, you find water baptism is emphasized.

Now today, a lot of people say, what is water baptism? It's a small thing. It doesn't matter whether you get baptized as a child or get baptized afterwards. But notice, Jesus didn't have all these ideas of human cleverness that you find in a lot of Christians today.

Human cleverness has led more people away from the word of God than anything else. We try to use our human brains instead of simply submitting to what Jesus said. There, Jesus said, you must believe, then be baptized.

Not before you believe. To get baptized before you are born again is like putting the cart in front of the horse. Nothing moves. Believe and then be baptized. Here also, make disciples and then baptize them.

For anyone who understands English or understands their own mother tongue, it is so clear. But a person who is stubborn and will not give up their traditions, nothing will be clear. Even after 100 years, it will not be clear.

But for a person who comes with a simple open mind, it is clear as crystal. You believe and after that you are baptized. You become a disciple and after that you are baptized. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Very clear. Even about that, there is a lot of argument in different places. What should we baptize? The name of Jesus or something like that. The word of God is clear for those who want to obey what Jesus said.

Acts as History and the Epistles as Doctrine

Many people go to the Acts of the Apostles and see what did they do. Well, in the Acts of the Apostles a lot of things happened. Paul quarreled with Barnabas. So what is the doctrine you get from that?

Or Paul shaved his head once. You see, Acts of the Apostles is a history record. You cannot get doctrine from there. If you want doctrine, go to the Epistles. Go to the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels.

Do not try to get doctrine out of Acts of the Apostles, because you will go wrong. Otherwise you have to pick out some things and reject other things according to your convenience. The Acts of the Apostles is a history.

It is an accurate, inspired history. But it tells us everything. It tells us Paul circumcised Timothy. What doctrine do you get from that? And this is how many people have got doctrines about in what name to baptize, everybody speaking in tongues and things like that.

They all get it out of the Acts of the Apostles. Some people say you must sell all your property. They get it out of the Acts of the Apostles. You get a lot of wrong doctrines in Christianity, because they have gone to Acts of the Apostles for doctrine, when it is a historical record, which has right things and wrong things that the Apostles did.

And that is not the place to get doctrine. If it is a doctrine, a fundamental doctrine, it will definitely be written in the teaching of Jesus or in the epistles which are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

That is where I go for my doctrine. In the Acts of the Apostles I find a record that inspires me, challenges me, how they suffered and sacrificed for the name of the Lord. So here it says, baptize them in the name of the Father's Holy Spirit.

Teaching Disciples to Obey Christ's Commands

And then, after that, what should you do? It says in verse 20, you have got to teach them to do every single thing I commanded you. Now how long do you think it takes to teach people everything that Jesus did is different from teaching people to do everything that Jesus did.

Let me repeat that. To teach people what Jesus did. That does not take long. You go through a Bible study of all the Gospels and you are finished. But to teach people to do everything that Jesus did, that takes time.

What are some of the things that Jesus taught? To teach people to do everything that Jesus commanded. To teach them to do everything that Jesus commanded, as opposed to just teaching them what Jesus commanded.

There is a difference. Jesus, I can go through the list. Jesus commanded you not to lust with your eyes, not to get angry, to speak the truth. And always let your yes be yes and your no, no. Don't do your righteousness and your prayers and fastings before men.

Don't judge others. And take up his yoke and learn from him. And take up the cross every day. And bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Do good to those who hate you.

And we go through the list and say, OK, I finished. In one week I finished teaching people everything that Jesus commanded. But not a single person there may have started doing what Jesus commanded. Jesus did not say, teach them what I have commanded.

He said, teach them to do what I have commanded. Which means by example and by encouragement. I have to lead them into that life. And that's where it takes time. And then, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So these two commissions we can say. Mark 16 is a commission basically to do evangelism. And Matthew 28 is a commission to make disciples. Now when you look out at the Christian world today. And you ask yourself, how many people are doing evangelism or emphasizing evangelism?

And how many people are making disciples? It should be, I would think, 50 -50, but it is not. I think 99 of people are occupied with evangelism because it is easier. Just preach, those who believe, baptize, over.

And less than 1%, I think, are in the business of making disciples. Because that's a more laborious task. And you can't show so many statistics. There are more statistics available in evangelism than in making disciples.

So if you look at this as a big log of wood with two ends. Mark 16 is one end and Matthew 28 is the other end of the log of wood. Which we have to carry as a church. And you see 100 people carrying a log of wood and 99 people are at one end of the log.

And one person at the other end of the log. If you got a little bit of sense, which end of the log will you go and help? Well, fast and pray and find out. If you are not sure. For me, I don't need to fast and pray.

I know the answer immediately. You know which end needs help. Of course, let me add this as a qualifying thing. That if your calling is to be an evangelist, that's one thing. But if people have pressurized you into being an evangelist, that's quite different.

A lot of people doing evangelism today have not been called to be evangelists. They are pressurized by other evangelists to be evangelists. To me, that is as foolish as me pressurizing all of you to start teaching like I do.

I don't want to make everybody into teachers. I don't want to make everybody into prophets or apostles. It's not possible. Everybody must be a witness. But everybody is not an evangelist. Please remember that.

Witnesses, Evangelists, and the Gifts to the Church

There is a lot of difference between being a witness and an evangelist. Everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, you shall have power to be my witnesses. And that applies to men, women, children, everybody.

A witness is one who says, you know, a witness in a court. He just says what he has seen and heard. That is a witness. And a witness is one who testifies to the circle in which God has placed him. That means his relatives, neighbors, people in his office, and the people he meets regularly.

He is a witness to them. To the milkman, to different people whom he meets regularly, to the person he buys vegetables from. A witness maybe gives a tract, maybe testifies to what Jesus has done for him.

Every single believer must be a witness. But an evangelist is something else. An evangelist is a special calling. We read in Ephesians in chapter 4 about what the Lord has given to the church. Please read very carefully.

Sometimes we have got to get a lot of wrong ideas out of our head. And the only way to get rid of those wrong ideas is by reading scripture. Because we have got a lot of wrong concepts. The Lord Jesus, when he ascended to heaven, verse 11, he gave some, not everybody, some as apostles.

Everybody understands that. If I say everybody is not an apostle, you say, sure, I agree. Some are apostles. Some are prophets. That also everybody agrees. But when it comes to some as evangelists, a lot of people don't agree.

They say, no, everybody must be an evangelist. I say, well, then you are fighting with the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit says he has made only some as evangelists. How in the world can you make everybody an evangelist when the Holy Spirit is only going to make some of them into evangelists?

It is as foolish as trying to make everybody an apostle or everybody a prophet. Just as foolish. But it is because people don't distinguish between being a witness and being an evangelist, that they think, oh, everybody must be an evangelist.

Because Jesus said, you shall all be my witnesses. There is a lot of difference. A witness may never leave his hometown. He may never speak in a meeting. All his life he may be just a witness in that circle in which he is.

But an evangelist has got a more open ministry. He may go somewhere. He may travel. He may move to another town or country. Some evangelists and some pastors. That also everybody understands. Only some can be pastors or shepherds.

The right word is shepherd. And teachers. Some are teachers. But notice another thing here. Whatever one of these five gifts to the church God may make us into, the purpose of all five is, verse 12, finally to build up the body of Christ.

The apostle must build the body of Christ. The prophet must build the body of Christ. The evangelist must build the body of Christ. The shepherd must build the body of Christ. And the teacher must build the body of Christ.

Building the Body of Christ Rather Than a Congregation

But what is happening today? You know what the body of Christ is? You think of a human body. Where there are different parts, fingers, eyes, toes, different gifts. But all related to one another. Working together, functioning together.

That's what a local church should be. A local church is not meant to be a congregation. A congregation is a whole lot of people sitting there. You know the difference between a building and a pile of stones or bricks.

You can have 10 ,000 bricks and it's just a pile of bricks. When they are fitted together, they become a building. And there's a lot of difference between a pile of bricks and a building. If you leave a pile of bricks on the roadside in most places in India, in a few years it will all disappear.

Somebody will come and steal a little bit for their house and ultimately after a few years everything disappears. This is how people say that somebody stole a member of my congregation and took them to their congregation.

Now I've never said that at any time. Because I build a building and nobody comes and steals one brick from up there, which is fitted in there. It's impossible. If these people who don't build a building but put a pile of bricks, they are always complaining somebody stole their brick and took them to their building.

Don't waste your time accumulating a pile of bricks. Otherwise you'll always have this complaint. Build a building. In the same way in the body of Christ. Nobody can come one night while I'm sleeping and steal my little finger.

It's not possible. But if you go to an anatomy laboratory in a medical college where they have all the human body parts all cut and kept. There are fingers and legs and eyes and ears all over the place.

One day you may find one eye missing. Or one hand is missing. Those are not a body. They are just members put together like that. And most churches are like that. They are not fitted together. And what do a lot of evangelists do in evangelism?

They go, tell people to accept Christ. And they've got their own evangelistic organization. And then they don't know anything about what happens to those people after that. He comes for his five-day crusade.

And gets photographed and all that. And then doesn't know where these people are gone. Has he built the body of Christ? And yet it says here every evangelist must build the body of Christ. Has he built those people into a local church?

No. Very often he tells them. Maybe they are born again. But he tells them to go back to those dead churches where they don't even preach about being born again. And then he ultimately loses whatever he got.

He is probably not even properly converted. So many people who raise their hands in big meetings, they are not really converted. I remember in one place where they did a follow-up after some big preacher came and there was a lot of decision cards signed and somebody did the follow-up.

And the person who did the follow-up told me this. It was in some part of North India. He said when he went around and discovered hardly any of them were following the Lord. All these decision cards.

And when he asked why did you come forward then? Some people said we wanted to see this great preacher a little closer. We were at the back of the congregation so we came forward to see him at closer quarters.

These are the reasons why people come forward. But his name is taken down and published in America as one more convert. This is the type of nonsense that is going on in India. And there are a lot of believers because they want part of that commission from that American evangelist.

They are ready to organize the crusade here and say they are doing evangelism. Don't waste your time with all this. That is not even the evangelism of Mark 16. But if you do engage in the evangelism of Mark 16, it must lead on to the making disciples that is mentioned in Matthew 28.

You got to make that man a learner and a follower. If he is not a learner or a follower then you have not made him into a disciple. No. You have only made him accept Christ and you think that he is a Christian but he is not really a Christian.

The Cost of Discipleship in Luke 14

He is not a disciple of Jesus. So I want you to think of this very seriously. Now let's turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 14. Luke's Gospel chapter 14. We read here about Jesus speaking to this great multitude and telling them how they can be disciples.

You know it says here in Luke 14 .25 a great multitude followed after Jesus. Now generally speaking when an evangelist sees a great multitude following after him, he will say things that will help to increase the size of that multitude.

Because there is a great lust for numbers and to have a greater following in all great preachers. But see how different Jesus was. He saw this great multitude following him and he turned around and said in Luke 14 .25 onwards some of the hardest words that he ever spoke to anyone.

Imagine when you have a great multitude following you for a preacher to get up and say things that will not increase the size of that multitude but decrease it. He looked at this great multitude and he said as it were I am not impressed by all of you people.

I know that most of you have no interest in becoming disciples. So I am not deceived that a great multitude is saying Oh Jesus he is great and we want to follow him. He says if you come to me and you don't hate your father, mother, verse 26, wife, children, brothers, sisters and your own life you cannot be my disciple.

Now if you are going to obey the commission in Matthew 28 which must follow on from Mark 16. You see the purpose of the commission in Mark 16 is to lay the groundwork for the commission in Matthew 28.

In other words when somebody goes and preaches the gospel and somebody believes and is baptized that is only the beginning. The work is completed when the person has been made into a disciple and taught discipleship.

It should not be that he remains like that one who believes and says I am going to heaven when I die. No. A believer must be made into a disciple. In the early days it says in Acts 11 .26 the disciples were called Christians.

Who were the Christians in the early days? The disciples. They made disciples and the disciples were called Christians. Who are called Christians today? Anyone born into a Christian family. It's so different today.

But not in the early days. The disciples were called Christians. And so wherever you see people who are just say well I have accepted the Lord. My sins are forgiven. You need to check whether the person has become a disciple.

Otherwise the work is not complete. You know that Jesus said on the cross when he died. It is finished. It is not only that the work of salvation was finished. Throughout his life he never did a half job.

If his mother told him to go to the well in Nazareth and draw a bucket of water and bring it. I am sure Jesus never brought a half bucket. I don't believe that. I believe he brought a full bucket back to his mother.

That was his way of life. There were no half jobs with him. If he was a carpenter and somebody asked him to make a table. Do you think Jesus just made four legs and went and took the four legs and said here you are?

No. Now four legs are part of the table but it is not a whole table. On top of the four legs he made a table top, completed it and said it is finished and then took it and gave it. The same principle applies here.

Evangelism as More Than Statistics

We can say to use the same illustration. When a person has just accepted Christ he is just like the four legs. What about the top? Has he been made a disciple? Has the job been completed? Now what we see in Christendom today is like carpenter shops where people are only making the legs and hardly any tables are complete.

Multitudes of legs. I say what about at least finishing a few tables? What about making some of these into complete tables? Make them to disciples and then we can, I am not against legs but I say where it is supposed to make tables?

We have to say it is finished. And that is where we find the shallowness and emptiness of modern day evangelism. People are not made into disciples. They are not learners. They are not followers. They are just statistics.

So many people accepted the Lord. So many people raised their hands. So many people signed decision cards. It does not mean anything. Put them together and what do they do? They fight and quarrel with each other all the time.

And yet Jesus said when you become disciples Jesus said all men John 13, 34 and 35 will know you are my disciples. How? By the fact that you love one another. Why is it that so many believers cannot love one another?

Even husbands and wives cannot love one another. Do you know the reason? I will tell you the reason from that verse. They are not disciples. If they were disciples they would love one another. All men, he said, will know you are my disciples by the fact that you love one another.

If we could measure a church church growth not by numbers but by love the results will be very different. But when people talk about church growth they are only talking about numbers. The church had started out with ten people who do not love one another and now it has become hundred people who do not love one another and maybe it will become a thousand people who do not love one another.

What sort of church is that? It is growing. But it is not a church of disciples. It is far better to produce one church of five people who love one another who are disciples. Jesus spent his life making a church of eleven people who love one another and with those eleven people he turned the world upside down.

They were not just believers who were running after money and trying to make a name for themselves. They were disciples. They had forsaken everything. They had hated father, mother wife, children, brothers, sisters and to become his disciples.

Cutting Human Attachments to Follow Christ

Now what does this word hate mean? The Bible says whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Hatred is the first step to murder. If you hate a person and you allow that hatred to develop it can lead to murder.

It leads to a killing. And when Jesus used the word hate here he was meaning that this human attachment to my father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children must be cut. It must be slain. It has to be slain.

Because that human attachment can lead me astray from the will of God. There are thousands of believers who never became disciples who have gone astray from God's will because they loved either their father or mother or brother or sister or wife or children with that human attachment which was never cut.

Now when the human attachment is cut we are united to the Lord. It has to be cut. To me, you know, it's like when a baby is born there is a thing called the umbilical cord and you know what has to be done to that umbilical cord?

It has to be cut. Even though it was from that umbilical cord that that baby lived for nine months all its life came from that umbilical cord. Just like all that you have came from your parents. And the Lord says cut it.

Doesn't it sound very harsh? Supposing a doctor says, Oh, this umbilical cord has supplied food and everything to this baby for nine months. We don't want to cut it. Leave it like that. What's going to happen?

What's going to happen to the poor mother with the baby hanging around it, walking around all the time? But there is no foolish doctor like that. They say it's true, nine months it supplied food and all that, but we've got to cut it because it's got to grow on its own now.

And the Lord says, Cut that umbilical cord attachment. And when it is cut, what will happen? Won't you care for your parents anymore? Listen, this is the best part of it. When you give up your human love for your parents, Jesus will replace it with a divine love.

And that's far better. Don't you think Jesus cared for his mother? Mary had four other sons and two other daughters, but Jesus was the eldest. And with all that agony, when he was hanging on the cross, he was thinking of his mother, taking care of her as an eldest son, to provide a home for her.

There is a good example of a son who cared for his mother. But he did not let her interfere in his life and ministry. When she came and said something in Cana, he said, Woman, what have I got to do with you?

Please don't interfere in my ministry. Another time when he was popular and they wanted to come and meet him, he said, Who is my mother, brother, sister? These who hear the word of God and do it. So there was a balance in Jesus' life.

He cared, he honored, but he did not let them influence what his father told him to do. If he had a human love for them, he would have just done what they told him. A lot of Christians don't understand this distinction between a human love and a divine love.

What Jesus is saying is, Hate, kill, cut off that human love. And when it is killed, it will be replaced with a divine love. And you will be able to love your father and mother in a much better way. You will be able to love your wife and children in a much better way.

You will be able to love your brothers and sisters in a much better way. And they will never be able to hinder you from following the Lord and doing the will of God in your life. That's the number one condition of discipleship.

You know how in our country we have such a tremendous attachment to our families. It's good to respect our families. Tremendous attachment to the denomination from which you came. Because in that denomination are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

You got to cut off even your human attachment to that denomination. There is an umbilical cord to that denomination because your father was there, your grandfather was there, your great grandfather was there.

And the Lord says, you will never be able to follow me if you don't cut off this umbilical cord. And then you got to ask the Lord whether the Lord wants you to stay in that denomination or move out of it.

You don't have to ask me, ask the Lord. But if you don't cut off that umbilical cord, you will never be a disciple. You will stick in a denomination because your great grandfather lived there. But in every other area we are willing to do differently from our great grandfather.

When you are sick, you don't say, my great grandfather never went to hospital, so I don't go. My great grandfather did not get a college degree, so I don't go. And my great grandfather did not have running water in his house, so I don't have that.

We never say that. It's only when it comes to my church, oh, my great grandfather was there. You see how crazy we are. My great grandfather believed that the sun goes around the earth. I don't believe it.

Neither do you. We have to cut off this human attachment to anything, to a family, to a denomination, to anything, to brothers, sisters, wife and children, father and mother, and then you will be a much better son, a much better daughter, a much better husband, and a much better brother, and a disciple of Jesus.

You won't be worse. You will be more patient. You will be more patient than those people in the world who love their parents. You will be more patient and loving and concerned for your mother. It was Jesus who was concerned about his mother, not his four younger brothers.

So we need to understand this, that following the Lord means I cut off this umbilical cord attachment and I hear what the Lord tells me to do. I want to be a disciple and no human attachment to a family or denomination is going to hinder me from doing what the Lord Jesus, who gave His life for me, has called me to do.

Taking Up the Cross and Dying to Self

And I may find my attachment now more to others who are in the body of Christ than even to my family members who are unconverted. That happens. It happens all the time. God gives us a new family. And secondly, the Lord says, to be a disciple, verse 27, you have to take up your cross and that applies to our self-life.

Like earlier He said, you have to hate your own self. The cross, we spoke about it the other day, where my will crosses God's will and where I have to die to my will, to my self-life, to my self-justification, to my reputation, to my honor, to my comfort.

I cannot be a disciple if I am not willing to die to myself. And when it says make disciples, you got to make people who are willing to die to themselves every day. Now look at all the people who are converted and signed decision cards and raised their hands and all that.